1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to a combination toilet seat and bidet attachment in which an apparatus which functions as a bidet is built into a toilet seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Many households desire the benefits of owning and using a bidet for personal, medical, or hygienic reasons. Often existing bathrooms do not have the necessary room in which to install a separate facility. Or, where space is available, the capital necessary to remodel is considered excessive. It is desirable to be able to add the function of a bidet inexpensively without significantly altering the existing structures.
This problem has received the attention of inventors. The following is a representative sample of related prior art as known to the inventor:
Baus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,451, shows a bidet attachment in which the bidet nozzle is housed in a cavity, open. downwardly, in the bottom of a toilet seat. The nozzle rotates from a horizontal position within the cavity to a vertical position extending into the toilet bowl. In the latter position, the spray head directs water upwardly toward the seated person.
Landsberger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,514, discloses a separate seat which is placed upon the rim of the toilet bowl. A spray nozzle is housed in an open cavity in the bottom of the seat, where it swings horizontally from a retracted position within the cavity to a position wherein the spray head is centrally located within the toilet bowl.
Kuo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,275, shows a pair of spray nozzles permanently fixed to a toilet seat, a back one which extends downwardly into the bowl and a forward one extending into the seat's opening. Both direct cleansing fluids centrally and upwardly toward the seated person.
Shifferly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,238, attaches a bidet nozzle to the underside of a toilet seat. The nozzle rotates in a substantially horizontal plane from a location between the bottom of the toilet seat and the top of the toilet bowl rim to a position wherein the spray head is centrally located within the toilet bowl.
D'Auria, Swiss Patent No. 418,997, issued Feb. 28, 1967, clips a removable bidet nozzle to the rim of the toilet bowl beneath the toilet seat.
In each of the above-noted combinations of a toilet seat and bidet attachment, the bidet attachment is exposed, especially when the toilet seat has been raised. See FIG. 11 in Shifferly, for instance. It is a fact of life that when a man uses a commode with the toilet seat raised, a certain amount of splatter of a corrosive and unsanitary liquid results, a splatter which must be constantly cleaned from all surfaces on which it lands. The bidet attachments of the prior art are particularly susceptible to this splatter due to their exposure. Because of their size and intricate mechanisms, they are also difficult to keep clean.